ORFFA Round 14 (AFL Round 20) - Rage Delist Round - teams and chat

does not quite match your description @chris88 but Kiddy Coleman is the one who if I don't pick him (if and when he is available, which has not been often this year) posts a monster score. And when I do pick him, gets injured early. I wonder what he will do this round?

edit: just an emergency, not even in the playing 23. Darn.

 

Cradle Mountain have made two changes to their team for their final home game of the 2026 ORFFA home and away season. After suffering injuries during the Round 13 victory against the Jaguars, forward/midfielder Toby Greene (quad) and forward Shaun Mannagh (hamstring) are both out. The Devils medical staff passed Mannagh fit to take his place against the Spelunkers, however the club’s selection committee opted to be conservative and have him spend a week on the sidelines. Defender Jake Lever and forward Aaron Naughton are the two inclusions.

For their penultimate game of the 2026 ORFFA home and away season the third placed Cradle Mountain Devils are hosting fellow Tasmanian team Charlies Opening Spelunkers who are second on the ladder. The Devils have a record of nine wins and four losses and rank fourth with 1,237.6 points. @Bandit’s Spelunkers average an ORFFA-high 1,373.2 points per game and have had 11 wins and two losses to lock in a top two spot with two rounds to go. The 135.6 points for per game advantage that Charlies Opening have over Cradle Mountain is slightly greater than the 130.8 point gap from the fourth ranked Devils to the 15th ranked Uglies (1,106.8 points per game). In the first round after the mid-season break Cradle Mountain lost to Mount Beauty by 51 points in the highest scoring game of Round 11. After winning their first 10 games of 2026 up until the mid-season break the Spelunkers also had a stumble after the mid-season break, suffering back-to-back losses to the Shark Bay Tigersharks by 44 points in Round 11 and to the ladder leading Gundagai Grasshoppers by 121 points, 1,379 to 1,500 in Round 12.

The Round 14 game between the Devils and Spelunkers is the first time they have played against each other since they met on the biggest stage of all, the ORFFA Grand Final in 2025. A dominant Charlies Opening team won their first 17 games of the 2025 season comprised of 15 home and away games and two finals to advance to the Grand Final. Cradle Mountain finished fourth on the ladder in 2025 with 10 wins and five losses and could draw on the experience of winning the 2021 Grand Final. The highly talented Spelunkers on the other hand were playing in their first ORFFA Grand Final in 2025. The first half of the 2025 Grand Final was a shoot-out with the underdog Devils holding a 23 point lead at half-time, 721 to 698. The third quarter is often refereed to as the premiership quarter and it proved to be the case in the 2025 ORFFA Grand Final. The Spelunkers responded to their biggest challenge of the season to outscore the Devils 279 to 225 points in the third quarter to gain the ascendancy and a 31 point lead at three quarter time. Charlies Opening and Cradle Mountain were evenly matched in a thrilling last quarter and the Spelunkers defeated the Devils by 26 points 1,306 to 1,280 to win their first ORFFA premiership. The best two players on the ground were the Spelunkers M1 and M2 – Marcus Bontempelli (148) and Nick Daicos (133).

Now in 2026 the Spelunkers are the hunted after having one of the best ORFFA seasons of all-time in 2025. One of the take aways for the Devils from the 2025 Grand Final was that it was going to be extremely difficult to defeat Charlies Opening competing player vs player, especially in the midfield where five Spelunkers averaged 100+ points per game in 2025. Cradle Mountain have a more versatile team in 2025 having increased their number of DPP’s which has enabled them to rotate more players through the midfield. The Devils 2025 Grand Final included two DPP’s in the 15 player team, defender/midfielder Sam Banks at M4 and F/M Ryan Maric at F2. The Charlies Opening Round 14 team doesn’t include any DPP’s whilst their opponent, the Devils have six DPP’s including three F/M’s, Jordan De Goey, Darcy Wilson and Ed Langdon. The other three DPP’s in the CMD 15 player team are ruck/forward duo Rowan Marshall and Peter Wright along with mid season swingman recruit, D/F Darcy Byrne-Jones. Three of the Devils emergencies are DPP’s with 2025 Grand Final team members D/M duo Banks and Maric being joined in this category by F/M Tyler Sonsie.

Charlies Opening and Cradle Mountain have very different team structures in terms of DPP’s and age-profile. The Spelunkers have four players born in the 2000’s that are entrenched in their team, midfielders Nick Daicos (2003) and Will Ashcroft (2004), along with ruck Luke Jackson (2001) and defender Nick Blakey (2000). The oldest players in COS’ Round 14 team are midfield duo Marcus Bontempelli and Zach Merret who were both born in 1995. Conversely there are players born in the 1980’s than the 2000’s in Cradle Mountain’s team. The Devils have the two oldest players in the ORFFA – 37 year old defender Dayne Zorko (1989) and 38 year old midfielder Scott Pendlebury (1988). The solitary player born in the 2000’s that is in the CMD team is 20 year old midfielder/forward Darcy Wilson (2005). The players that complete the podium for youngest Cradle Mountain players in their Round 14 team are 26 year old forward Aaron Naughton (1999) and 27 year old defender Josh Battle (1998).

Charlies Opening have seven players in their Round 15 team that are averaging triple figures, a significant advantage over the Devils that have two players in this category. On the flipside the Devils have an advantage in terms of players averaging 80+, 12 to 10. CMD have seven players with an average in the 80’s compared to one Spelunkers player.


Average CMD
100+ 2
90-99 3 (5)
80-89 7 (12)
Sub 80 3

Average COS
100+ 7
90-99 2 (9)
80-89 1 (10)
Sub 80 5

Cradle Mountain Devils team and progress score for Round 14 home game against the Spelunkers

Out: S Mannagh (hamstring), T Greene (quad)
In: J Lever, A Naughton

Def: D Zorko, J Battle, D Byrne-Jones, J Lever 87 (S Banks) 87/1
Mid: J Steele 94, J De Goey 65, S Pendlebury 94, D Wilson (R Maric) 253/3
Ruc: T Nankervis
Fwd: R Marshall, E Langdon 70, P Wright, A Naughton (S Mannagh) 70/1
Inter: T English, N Vlastuin (T Sonsie)

410/5 Average 82


Charlies Opening Spelunkers

Def: L Whitfield, N Blakey, J Short, L Duggan 64 (S Grlj) 64/1
Mid: M Bontempelli, N Daicos 143, W Ashcroft, A Brayshaw 91 (O Florent) 234/2
Ruc: L Jackson 94
Fwd: G Miers 52, J Waterman 27, A Neal-Bullen 65, B Close 86 230/43
Int: Z Merrett, L Meek (J Berry)

622/8 Average 77.8

Cradle Mountain Devils 410/5 Average 82

Trail

Charlies Opening Spelunkers 622/8 Average 77.8 for total score however the Devils have a slightly higher average.

 

Unofficial final score
Cradle Mountain Devils 1,361/15 Average 90.7

Defeated

Charlies Opening Spelunkers 1,335/89 Average 85.6

Cradle Mountain Devils

Def: D Zorko 123, J Battle 85,D Byrne-Jones 64, J Lever 87 (S Banks) 359/4
Mid: J Steele 94, J De Goey 65, S Pendlebury 94, D Wilson 123 (R Maric) 376/4
Ruc: T Nankervis 96
Fwd: R Marshall DNP, E Langdon 70, P Wright 65, A Naughton 81 (S Mannagh 97 - late in) 313/4
Inter: T English 95, N Vlastuin 122 (T Sonsie) 217/2


Charlies Opening Spelunkers

Def: L Whitfield 85, N Blakey 97, J Short 92, L Duggan 64 (S Grlj) 338/4
Mid: M Bontempelli 99, N Daicos 143, W Ashcroft 137, A Brayshaw 91 (O Florent) 470/4
Ruc: L Jackson 94
Fwd: G Miers 52, J Waterman 27, A Neal-Bullen 65, B Close 86 230/4
Int: Z Merrett 101, L Meek 102 (J Berry) 203/2

With ruck/forward Rowan Marshall suffering from back spasms and failing a fitness test just before the game the Devils forward emergency Shaun Mannagh ended up starting in the CMD forward line and scored a very valuable 97 points which was the highest score from a player starting in the forward line for either team.

Led by M2 Nick Daicos (143) the Spelunkers midfielders had a blistering start against their Devils counterparts to lead the Devils by 49 points half way through the first quarter. Cradle Mountain were able to steady and trimmed the margin to 18 points at quarter time 329-311. The Devils defenders led by Nick Vlastuin (122) convincingly defeated the Spelunkers forwards in the second term to play a crucial role in CMD outscoring COP by 51 points 310 to 259 for the term to gain the ascendancy. Cradle Mountain led by 33 points at half-time, 621-588.

In the previous encounter between these Tasmanian arch rivals, the 2025 ORFFA Grand Final it was a shoot out in the first half and the scoring slowed in the second half. This was reversed on the weekend with the Spelunkers and Devils both playing a more attacking brand in the second half to engage in a shoot-out with a combined 1,487 points scored after half-time. There weren’t any significant momentum swings after half-time and consistently when one team scored a goal the opposition team quickly responded with a goal of their own. Cradle Mountain outscored Charlies Opening 356-351 in the third quarter to increase their lead to 38 points. The youngest player for each team was in the best two players for their team, 22 year old Spelunkers midfielder Will Ashcroft (137) and 20 year old Devils midfielder/forward Darcy Wilson (123) after starting in the M4 position. Wilson was the Devils equal best player along with a teammate at the opposite end of the scales, 37 year old defender Dayne Zorko (123). The Spelunkers took the honours in a frenetic fourth quarter with Marcus Bontempelli (99) kicking two goals for the term. Devils supporters and coaching staff had flashbacks to the 2025 ORFFA Grand Finals when the Bont was best afield. It was a different outcome this time around and Cradle Mountain were able to hold on for a victory despite the Spelunkers n, winning the fourth term 396 to 384 which equates to a scoring pace of 1,525+ for each team if maintained for the entire game. The unofficial scoreboard showed that the Cradle Mountain Devils were victorious by 26 points 1,361 to 1,335 against the Charlies Opening Spelunkers. In a high quality team each team had 11 players score 80+. If the unofficial score is accurate it will be the second game in a row between the Spelunkers and the Devils that the home side has won by 26 points. With the victory Cradle Mountain improve their record to 10 wins and four losses to consolidate their position in the top four and are one win behind @Bandit ’s Charlies Opening Spelunkers. The points for advantage that the Spelunkers have over the Devils is more than 1,700 points which means that the Spelunkers have locked in second position and will have the all important home ground advantage if they play the Devils during the finals. 2026 is the fourth season in a row that Charlies Opening have finished in the top two at the end of the home and away season, a tremendous achievement.

Charlies Opening had the two best players on the ground in midfielders Nick Daicos (143) and Will Ashcroft (137) however they also had the two worst players on the ground. With key forwards Jeremy Cameron and Jesse Hogan both on the sidelines injured the Spelunkers weakest line is the forward line. The only two players to record sub 60’s for the game were COP forwards, key forward Jake Waterman (27) and small forward Gryan Miers (52) who is courageously playing despite having an injured ACL. On paper F4 Brad Close looked to be the Spelunkers weakest link, having an average this season of 47 points per game, 25 points less than the 14th ranked Charlies Opening player named in the Round 14 team. Close thrived against the Devils to be the Spelunkers highest scoring forward with 86 points, 39 points more than his season average. Three of the four sub 70 scores for the Spelunkers were in the forward line. The Charlies Opening midfielders convincingly won the line-battle against their Devils counterparts by 94 points, 470 to 376 with each starting mid scoring 90+. Spelunkers interchange duo, midfielder Zach Merrett (101) and ruck Lloyd Meek (102) each reached triple figures. Collectively Meek and Luke Jackson (94) had a narrow advantage over CMD ruck counterparts Tim English (95) and Toby Nankervis (96). The Spelunkers 11, 80+ scores were comprised of 4 tons, 5 90’s and 2 80’s.

The 15th ranked CMD player named in the team for their Round 14 game was veteran defender Nick Vlastuin who is the first player the Devils selected at an ORFFA pre-season draft, being selected with pick 10 at the 2013 PSD. Vlastuin entered the game averaging 70 points per game but starting in the int 2 position returned to his best to score 122 to be the third ranked Devil, a solitary point less than Zorko and Wilson with 123 points each. Tris trio were the only three CMD players to reach triple figure figures. Critically there was only a 16 point spread from the Devils fourth ranked player for the game, late inclusion Shaun Mannagh (97) to the 11th ranked player, fellow forward Aaron Naughton (81). The lowest scoring Devil for the game was defender/forward Darcy Byrne-Jones (64). The Spelunkers have more top-end talent than the Devils which is highlighted by the fact that seven COP players entered the Round 14 game averaging at least 100 points per game in 2026 compared to two Devils in this category. Having a more even team performance enabled Cradle Mountain to have a 26 point win, however a crucial factor was having more settled team than the Spelunkers, particularly in the forward line. With their 10th win of the season Cradle Mountain have locked in a top four berth for the second season in a row and fifth time overall. The next Apple Isle encounter between the Charlies Opening Spelunkers and Cradle Mountain Devils will be highly anticipated, whether it is in the 2026 finals or during the 2027 home and away season.

The Spelunkers loss to the Devils ensures that the Gundagai Grasshoppers will finish on top of the ladder for the 2026 ORFFA home and away season. Congratulations @snoz on your Grasshoppers winning the minor premiership for the fourth time - having previously achieved this feat in 2020, 2022 and 2023, it is a magnificent performance to have this level of sustained excellence.